Posted at 6:00 p.m.
Big international names at Danse Danse
As usual, the broadcaster Danse Danse, which is celebrating its 25e season, offers a program that will delight aficionados dance with the arrival of major international companies. Autumn is off to a strong start: the Pina Bausch Foundation, in collaboration with the École des Sables, is presenting one of the late choreographer’s masterpieces, the incomparable Rite of Spring, which brings together 14 dancers from African countries on stage (October 5 to 8). A big favorite with Montreal audiences, English choreographer Hofesh Shechter is back for the fifth time in Montreal with Double Murderdouble program that promises to nail you to your seat, consisting of Clownsa biting comedy that questions our growing indifference to violence, then, in poetic counterpoint, from creation to the soaring atmosphere TheFix.
From November 2 to 5, at the Maisonneuve Theater
The poetry of gesture
PHOTO ANGELO BARSETTI, SUPPLIED BY AGORA DE LA DANSE
Lucie Grégoire offers the solo Drifts.
As for the Agora de la danse, the fall program focuses on original proposals and discoveries, with several emerging artists who think outside the box and push the boundaries of the discipline, including Zab Maboungou with Weightiness (from September 21 to 23) and Ismaël Mouaraki with The Rite of Lila (from November 23 to 26). A prominent figure on the contemporary Quebec scene, choreographer Lucie Grégoire, for her part, offers driftsa solo full of poetry in which she reveals herself, resonating with the music of Icelandic cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir.
From September 28 to 1er October, at the Wilder Building
Revisited classics
PHOTO SASHA ONYSHCHENKO, PROVIDED BY LES GRANDS BALLETS
Carmen, by Etienne Béchard. Pictured are dancers Vanesa GR Montoya and André Santos.
The classics are in the spotlight at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens this fall. The season takes off with the return of two works already presented in previous seasons, namely The four Seasons by Vivaldi, by the choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti, and the Symphony noh 7 of Beethoven by Uwe Scholz (from September 22 to 24). For novelty, we turn to the “3.0” rereading of Carmen, by Étienne Béchard, world premiere. The young creator was inspired not by the original opera, but by Carmen Suite, by Rodion Chtchedrine, and transports here this symbol of insubordination in a virtual universe without borders. This evening will be completed by Waves of Kiara Flavin, dancer within the company, and The Rite of Springcreated by Béchard for Les Grands Ballets in 2017. Both programs will be presented with the musicians of the Orchester des Grands Ballets.
From October 20 to 23, at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
pearls of songs
PHOTOS MARJORIE GUINDON, PROVIDED BY PPS DANCE
Beads, a new creation by PPS Danse. In the photos, the interpreter Marilyn Cyr.
Before his death in January 2021, the late creator Pierre-Paul Savoie worked on this creation, in line with Dance Lhasa Dance and of Body Love Anarchy – Léo Ferré. Fortunately, his work lives on thanks to his successor David Rancourt, a dancer for the company for several years and now artistic director of PPS Danse, with whom Mr. Savoie initiated the ideation and creation of this new show entitled Beads. Here again, body, voice and music come together for a multidisciplinary show which, this time, uses songs from the Quebec repertoire from 1960 to the present day as a musical canvas. A wide range of choreographers, dancers, singers and musicians are taking part in this large-scale creation which will tour across Quebec.
November 24 at Théâtre Maisonneuve, Montreal; on December 6 at the Grand Théâtre, in Quebec. Several other dates in the province this fall and in 2023.
Utopia according to Virginie Brunelle
PHOTO RAPHAËL OUELLET, PROVIDED BY DANSE DANSE
Fables, by Virginie Brunelle. Pictured are performers Marine Rixhon and Peter Trosztmer.
To close the fall season, Danse Danse presents a new creation by a rising figure on the Quebec dance scene, Virginie Brunelle. Fables, his most ambitious proposal to date, brings together 12 performers and 1 pianist, in a series of physical and poignant tableaux, faithful to his signature. Presented as a world premiere in Switzerland at the Lugano Dance Project 2022, Fables is inspired by the famous Monte Verità hill, around which the festival revolves, known to have been the cradle of utopian micro-societies. From there, Brunelle explores feminism, against the backdrop of the chaos of our time, and brings out larger-than-life characters seeking to break free from invisible barriers.
From November 30 to December 2, at Théâtre Maisonneuve